While the prospect of Microsoft accepting Bitcoin for the Xbox Games Store may bode well for the industry, it is unlikely to have a major impact. When it comes to the true intentions of Bitcoin (BTC) and the entire cryptocurrency market, Microsoft has been sending different signals.
On the one hand, Microsoft president Brad Smith gave an interview earlier this year. He said that the multinational company has no interest in venturing into Bitcoin. However, a few days ago, the tech giant seemed to have changed its mind and published an online survey asking how its customers will pay for the Xbox game store in the future. One of the most prominent options on the list is Bitcoin.
Smith announced that fintech companies have nothing to do with issuing private digital currencies. The reason is that the central bank exists to ensure the "common interest" of the public, so they should become the power to control the world's currency.
If Bitcoin is accepted as a payment method in the Xbox game store, it will not be the first time Microsoft enters the cryptocurrency, because since 2014, the company has accepted Bitcoin to fund accounts, allowing users to locate their headquarters in several U.S. states. Purchase the full suite of content in the Windows Store, including Xbox game titles.
That said, when the entire market was under frantic downward pressure, the company's efforts to enter the cryptocurrency space ceased in 2018, causing the value of most cryptocurrencies to fall to relatively low levels. However, earlier this year, Microsoft again decided to allow Bitcoin payments, albeit only for its MS Store.
Will there be any change in Microsoft's interest in this area?
On March 24, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that his company would accept Bitcoin as a payment method for its cars, leading many in the social media world to announce that the cryptocurrency has finally become part of the world.
However, even in this case, if other large companies (such as Microsoft) that have questioned cryptocurrency in the past allow the use of cryptocurrency as a payment method, it is not absolutely clear even if BTC becomes the majority means of payment.
On this topic, Qiao Zhou, founder and CEO of FirstBlood, a blockchain-based e-sports platform, stated that, in general, this development seems to be positive on paper, especially as it helps to increase the adoption of cryptocurrencies across the global digital environment.
Zhou further believes that if Microsoft decides to allow cryptocurrency payments, it will lay the perfect foundation for integrating the gaming community and the cryptocurrency community, especially since he believes that gamers between the ages of 18 and 35 are more likely to own digital currencies in the future.
Finally, he believes that apps like Cash App and PayPal that allow users to buy and hold cryptocurrencies will help merge the two worlds, thus achieving greater adoption in the gaming community.
I want to know how Microsoft's finance department will handle their cryptocurrency revenues - will they liquidate their fiat currency? Or will they hold them like Tesla and MicroStrategy.
Is Microsoft's view of cryptocurrencies short-sighted?
While many people believe that Microsoft is interested in integrating cryptocurrencies into its existing payment framework, indicating that great things will happen in the future, Andrew Co. co-founder of Xaya (the blockchain gaming and digital asset management platform) Andrew Colosimo said: While the development itself is a positive sign, he is not sure if it will have a big direct impact on Bitcoin.
Having said that, he admitted that if major companies like Microsoft start accepting BTC as payment, it may cause a domino effect and may cause other game console operators to follow suit.
Similarly, Hatem Hachana, COO of Utopia Genesis Foundation (a blockchain-based tokenized platform for music rights, assets and royalties) believes that most gamers are now familiar with the concept of in-game purchases.
Even simply adding a cryptocurrency payment option won't bring much change, even if it may attract wider adoption.
If Microsoft embraces it, Sony and Nintendo will definitely follow suit. If we look at the whole space, they are all adapting, developing and integrating cryptocurrencies.
The adoption of cryptocurrencies makes sense. It seems quite likely that Microsoft may be seeing a new trend around cryptocurrencies, especially with the non-fungible token market, a space that has exploded recently.
To put things in perspective, the digital collectibles market has seen its value increase substantially in recent months, with a growing number of celebrities cashing in on the tFor example, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's (Jack Dorsey) first tweet was recently sold in NFT form for a total price of $2.9 million.
Similarly, artist Mike Winkelmann called Beeple recently sold one of his works through Christie's auction house for as much as $69 million, making him one of the most valuable artists in the world.
It is therefore entirely appropriate for Microsoft to re-explore this evolving space and potentially expose its huge customer base (the number of people with Xbox One consoles is estimated to be 48.69 million) to the digital asset market.endence of digitizing his works.
Finally, if BTC is returned to the platform as a payment method, it will be marked as the cryptocurrency's redemption time, indicating that it may stay there longer.